Lady Aquila wrote:
The Aristasian salute touches either the left shoulder or the left side of the chest (there are many variants on the salute – not random – each military or other group using it will have its own strictly-observed form). Nonetheless the reference is to the heart (which is on the left side) and to the shoulder or arm (which is the instrument of action).
That the (relatively late) Tellurian salute should touch the head, which is the centre of lunar reason, which in turn is the focus of the rationalist revolution which ushered in the rajasic age in West Telluria, does not seem insignificant.
The salute to the head is known in Aristasia as are some other salutes used in different places and circumstances. The salute to the head generally has the effect of being jauntier and less formal than the standard salute, though there are a few contexts in which it is officially used. It has been used in pictures on the Aristasia Friends site largely because it is more readily recognised by newcomers than the standard Aristasian salute.
April 17, 2008 at 12:21 am |
Nice little article, on salutes, but could you please put a picture of the standard Aristasian salute on here too.
April 17, 2008 at 1:57 pm |
I would have liked to, but I could not find one. If someone on Virtualia could make a snapsie, that would be very welcome.
June 5, 2008 at 12:16 am |
Lady Aquila is correct on the Tellurian salute about touching the head, but its origin has a far more practical source. In the period after the fall of the Roman Empire, whose salute is very similar to the proper Aristasian Salute, although it was followed by extending the arm up and away from the body palm open, signifying the subordinate is unarmed; the modern salute is the vestigial remnants of a knight lifting the visor of the helm so he can be identified; this morphed into the doffing of the hat, and later the simple touching of the hat or brow.
A note of interest – the Culverian pledge of allegiance places the hand over the heart, and prior to the usurpation of the traditional Romanesque saltue by the Nazis, Culverians likewise extended their arm away palm open.